Internet Explorer 9 – not out just yet, but…

By | February 15, 2011
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In the Computers newsletter this month:
  • Internet Explorer 9 – not out just yet, but…
  • Free magazine
  • Tip from Laura
  • More on ecards

Hello 

I hope you enjoyed the video from last time! Thanks to everyone who emailed in to say they liked it – given how popular it was I think I’ll do some more in the future.

But first I’ve got news about the new version of Internet Explorer (out soon… but when?), a free magazine and a tip from Laura.

Internet Explorer 9 – nearly ready

It doesn’t seem long since Internet Explorer 8 came out but version 9 is nearly ready. Microsoft haven’t announced an official date yet but they have brought out a “release candidate”. That’s a version of the program that you can download now to try out. It hasn’t necessarily got all the bugs ironed out (but then, even when they release it properly I bet it won’t have!) but it’s usable and it means people can try it out and tell Microsoft about any big problems they discover. I’d generally recommend waiting until the official launch but if you’re interested, you can get it here http://windows.microsoft.com/ie9

So what’s new in it? Well, in time honoured fashion, they’ve checked what other web browsers do and nicked their best features! I’m not complaining, though – all the other companies do the same and that way you get a program with all of the best features, not just the ones that company thought of.

In particular they’ve added two features from Google Chrome that I think are really good ideas. First, you can click on a tab, hold down the mouse button and drag it out of the window to create another window – that way you can easily set up two web pages next to each other if you want to look at two at once. Second, there’s now only one box at the top to type in. Instead of an address bar to type a web address into (eg www.helpfulbooks.co.uk) and a search box to type things you want to search for in (eg computer books), there’s one box and if you type in a web address it goes straight there, if you type in something else it searches for it. These two boxes have confused thousands of people so merging them into one so you don’t need to worry about which you should use is good news!

Microsoft also say IE9 will be more stable – ie crash less and be quicker. But then, they always say that!

Free magazine – whether you’re over 65 or not

The other day someone told me about this magazine – it’s an online magazine that you can read on your PC… and it’s free. It’s called Over 65 magazine, though there’s nothing to stop you reading it if you’re under 65! Anyway, I thought I’d pass it on and you can have a look and see what you think. The website is here: http://www.over65magazine.co.uk

Tip from next door – Laura

A tip from Laura this time: My tip this month is another keyboard shortcut. Say you wanted to view a webpage, photo or video in full screen view. Instead of searching around for a little icon you can just press F11 on your keyboard, and to reverse it either press F11 again or the ESC key. Give it a try on a webpage!

Ideal for watching our videos in Windows Media Player, especially because the “full screen” button is quite hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for!

More on ecards

I mentioned ecards last time and a reader has written in to let me know that the British Heart Foundation also have a range. They’re free but you can make a donation if you like. Here’s the website: http://ecards.bhf.org.uk/ecards

Well, I’d better get on with the videos I mentioned before. I’ve nearly finished recording everything but then I’ve got to edit out the coughs, sneezes and bits where I got my words in a twist and had to start again! Then add in the arrows pointing at particular bits of the screen and so on – plenty to keep me busy. (More news on these in a week or so)

Yours
Tim Wakeling

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